St. Petersburg Academic University of Russian Academy of Sciences

The St. Petersburg Academic University is the first and the only university in the Russian Academy of Sciences. (Previous name: Academic University of Physics and Technology.) The word "Academic" in its name stems from Russian Academy of Sciences, the organization that unites numerous research institutes in Russia.

The university comprises St.Petersburg Center of Physics and Technology and School of Physics and Technology (established in 1987), which is one of the best undegraduate schools in Russia. This composition eventually implements the idea of Peter the Great back from the XVIII century. The university is headed (and, essentially, created) by academician and Nobel prize winner Zhores Alferov.